Track of Memories - Station Zero
by Nightman
Summary: This story is the child of someone who enjoys his Anime, Video Games, and Toku... WAY too much. If you want to blame anyone... ONORE DECADE! To keep things honest in the idea of Decade, other adventures will exist in their own stations. I did take some liberties with the Den-O stuff when developing this story, so take with salt.
1. Stop 1 - A New Journey Arrives

**A quick note from Nightman**: Welcome to the start of what I hope is a fun and enjoyable story. I know what you're probably thinking… "He's ripping off Decade!" Yes, Kamen Rider Decade was a cool series but I see this as more of a tribute to the whole world/time traveling theme.

All that aside, enjoy!

* * *

**Stop 1: A New Journey Arrives**

June 1, 20XX…

Walking along a sidewalk, a lone human is busy trying to find some kind of marker to give his position in the busy city of Tokyo. "Bah, why did I even do this stupid six month overseas study?" Looking up from a note scribbled in broken English lettering an American college student spots several signs. Unfortunately for him they were all written in Japanese. Pulling out his cell phone, he is unable to get any service due to the large buildings. "Of course… what else can go wrong?"

Seconds later, a building explodes and crumbles to dust in front of the lost individual. Panic ensues as people try to escape what seems to be a terrorist attack. Getting bumped around, the young man notices a child crying as a large slab of debris falls towards the child. "Hey!" Running at the child, time suddenly starts to slow down around him. "Huh, what the hell is this feeling?" The sound of a steam engine echoes as a strange looking two-car train bursts out of the ground and knocks the debris away with a large drill before vanishing back underground. As time returns to normal, the child's mother grabs her kid and flees the area. "What did I just see?"

After the chaos in the street, the lost individual was able to make it to his hotel and called his professor. Finding out that the college was a short cab ride across town, the tired individual plops down on the bed and sighs. "I know what I saw…" The unknown train continues to appear in his mind as he hears the same whistle echo in his room. Looking up from his pillow, he doesn't find any sign of the train. Confused and unsure if he is losing his mind, the closet door to the hotel room slides open and a young woman walks out. Speaking in Japanese, the western looking girl tried to speak with him.

"How did you get in my room?" Frowning at the male's confusion, the visitor grabs his right arm and starts pulling him towards the closet door. "What are you doing?! Let go!" Pulling his arm free, he stares at the female and backs away. "Guess there's no way to avoid it… Deneb!" Hearing the unknown female suddenly speak his native language, he blinks at her. "Wait, you speak English?" A menacing shadow appears behind the college sophomore and lands a blow to the back of the human's head. The male hits the floor with a thud and twitches. Looking up, his vision became blurry as he drifted out of consciousness. Before his eyes closed, he heard the following conversation between the two individuals.

"Was it really necessary to have me knock him out Sei?"

"Shut up Deneb! You know we need to find the next Den-O."

"Yea, but… "

"No buts! Just get this guy into Zeroliner now!" Checking his wallet, Sei finds out the identity of the now KO'd male. "Kai Strider? Pfft, typical loser American name…"

An unknown period of time had passed since the young college student was attacked in his room. Groaning, he finally recovered from being struck in the back of his head and looked around. Feeling the floor vibrate a little, he got up and moved to a small window. The scenery looked like an inhospitable desert as he heard the same train whistle again. "Don't tell me… this has to be a dream."

"OH!" Hearing someone come into the car, he turned around to come face-to-face with the ninja-looking imagin. Falling against the wall of the train car, he watches as the creature reaches into a basket and pulls out a lollipop with its face on it. "I'm sorry, Sei tends to get upset when things don't go her wa-" The same brown haired female comes through the door to the train car and smacks the creature in the back of its head hard. "Deneb! What did I tell you about making stir-fry with carrots?!" Putting the creature in a headlock, the female continues to attack without giving Deneb a chance to explain himself. "You know I **_hate_** them more than…"

"Can someone tell me why I'm here?" Letting go of the candy carrying creature, the female known as 'Sei' pulls out something and tosses at him. Catching the object, it appears to be some kind of passport. Flipping it open, nothing is inside the hard plastic pass as he looks confused at the female. "That's a Time Pass; it will allow you to ride any time train you board."

"Um Sei… that guy is leaving." Deneb says as the kidnapped student walks out of the stopped Zeroliner. The uninterested male had pulled the emergency stop cord on the time train and made his way back to the hotel room. Stepping out of what the 'crazy train', Sei followed the Kai out. "What is your problem? You just walked out on a cute girl trying to get your help!"

"Yea, about that… kidnapping me and trying to get me to believe that there are time traveling trains?" Waving off the female, he chuckles softly. "Please, I may not be from around here but I'm not that gullible."

Throwing the pass at him the visibly ticked off female heads back into the train. Leaning out of the doorway, Deneb tries to tell Kai something. "Hey, don't take it personally… Sei's parents died when she was young and she's not really that mean. Oh yea!" Holding the door open, Deneb tries to finish his conversation. "She also thought it was brave of you to try and save that child. In fact, I believe she thinks your cut-!"

"DENEB!" Grabbing the imagin by the collar of his cloak, Sei pulls him back inside before the closet door shuts allowing Zeroliner to return back into the sands of time. Picking up the pass, Kai looks it over and tosses it onto the nightstand. Plopping down on the bed, the honestly confused student looks at the digital clock only to see a minute of real time had passed. _What kind of weird prank did I stumble into?_ Kai thinks as he dozes off.

The following morning, Kai is busy brushing up on his basic Japanese as he waits for the train. As the mass transit arrives, the train suddenly begins to dissolve like a cookie in milk. The people inside also vanish as the metal vehicle turns into a pile of dust on its tracks. "What the…?"

"KAI!" Turning around, Deneb runs up to the stunned human and pulls on his sleeve. "You need to come with me. "Its Sei… she's in trouble." Pulling his arm free, Kai starts to walk away on the panic stricken imagin. "Why should I get involved?"

"Because if she dies… I'll die as well!" Not wanting to have the ninja themed creature following and bothering him the whole day, Kai decides to check on the sharp tongued female before his first day of oversea classes.

Arriving at the area Deneb left Sei, the short brown haired girl looked like she just went four rounds with a heavyweight fighter. Tending to her wounds, Deneb tries his best to help Sei up as she pushes him away and gets up on her own after some struggling. "I told you before I can handle myself." Reaching back, Kai grabs the rebellious girl's arm forcefully and frowns. "You can't even stand up straight and if Deneb wasn't worried, why else would he get me?"

"Because he's weak! If he wasn't so wishy washy…" Reaching back Kai slaps the already hurt Sei across the face making contact with her left cheek. Shocked, Deneb tries to pull the two apart as a strange shadow begins to creep along the ground. Engulfing buildings on its way towards the trio, the sun begins to fade away as the shadow seems to be eating everything it touches making it impossible to define anything in its wake.

"No way… this has to be a dream." Kai stutters as the shadow gets closer to them. Sei smirks while snapping a strange belt around her waist. "Guess this is where we part Deneb…" Drawing a green card from a pocket on her left hip, the Zeroliner rolls up behind them from a portal as Sei shoves Kai and her imagin partner into the train. The door seals shut keeping Deneb from being able to assist his human partner. "Sei, what are you doing?! We have the next Den-O right here!"

"No, he's not ready to fight just yet Deneb… make sure you train him and not those idiots on Den-Liner." As the bull-headed train pulls out, Kai goes to the window and watches Sei wink at him. _Heh, that guy has potential to be a hell of a Rider… and he's cute too._

The shadow engulfs the young woman and starts to chase after the Zeroliner as the train starts to fly into the sky. Entering the time stream, the shadow takes a swipe at the train but is denied entrance as the portal closes the moment Zeroliner leaves the darkened world. Roaring out of frustration, the huge shapeless creature returns to covering the city in darkness.

Meanwhile, Kai is busy shaking Deneb by his chest plate inside the engine compartment. "What do you mean we can't go back?!"

"Sei told me to train you… to become the next Den-O." Frowning, Kai stops shaking the already stammering imagin and lets him go. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Before Deneb could answer, Zeroliner began to shake wildly. Bouncing around on its tracks, the train seems to have grown angry for some unexplained reason. Trying to grab hold of the mounted motorbike, Kai realizes something Sei had said to him about the strange trains. _"That's a Time Pass; it will allow you to ride any time train you board…"_

"All because I don't have that thing on me?" Remembering he had left the pass Sei gave him back in the hotel room, Kai was forcefully thrown from the moving Zeroliner. Sliding along the sand outside the train, the ejected human could only watch as the owner-less Zeroliner speed away into the distance. Picking himself up, the human looked around at the desert like dimension and groaned from being tossed on his left shoulder. Finding nothing broken, Kai begins to follow the Zeroliner's path in the sand hoping to catch up if it stopped.

Looking at his wrist, Kai is unable to tell how long he has been wandering around due to the fact his watch's arms kept spinning around like a top. Growing upset, the lone human throws the device and bounces it off a rock thus shattering it into pieces. For some reason, the watch suddenly reforms and returns to its owner's hand. Falling to his knees, Kai looks up at the ever changing sky. "Why am I here?!" Only the wind from an incoming sandstorm answers the confused and alone individual. "Of course!"

Trying to find some kind of shelter from the driving sand, the Zeroliner's 'steps' in the sand have been blown away as Kai continues to wander in the storm. Bumping into something, Kai looks through a small crack in the jacket he wrapped around his face to block the flying sand. "A cave?" Walking around to find the entrance to escape the raging storm, Kai wanders in and find the cave is pitch black. Pulling out his cell phone, the small light makes little difference to revealing what was inside.

Taking a seat on the floor of his shelter, Kai pulls off the sand filled jacket and feels something hit his leg. Using the phone, the object turns out to be a small silver ring. It was too small for his hands, but Kai could feel some writing on the inside of the smooth jewelry. "Bah, the cell phone can't give me enough light to see…" Sitting in the cave, the human began to feel tired. "Huh… why do I feel sleepy? Did I over exert myself…?"

Dropping onto his back, Kai's vision begins to fade. _Great… this is how I am going to die? In some god forsaken desert where no one can find me?_ Thinking about how his parents might react to his death, Kai looks up and sees a small shimmer of light coming through a crack in the roof of the cave. _No, I can't stop here. I have to… keep… moving…_

Finally blacking out, Kai goes limp on the floor of the damp cave. The sound of an approaching train echoes in the cave as it grinds to a halt. Someone steps into the halted vehicle's lights and looks down at the object in their way. "Oi, we got ourselves a live one over here!" Dragging Kai by the collar of his sweat coated shirt into the train, a door slides shut as the horn blows loudly signaling departure as the eight-car Den-Liner bursts out of the cave.

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Preview:

Kai: Huh? What am I doing here? Where's Deneb?! Why is my world dead?!

Momotaros: Hey, better calm down before you… pass out again.

Urataros: Well, I guess it can't be helped… sempai's breath would make anyone keel over.

Kintaros: (busy sleeping)

Ryutaros: Heh heh, this is for making me screw up my coloring.

_Arriving soon…_ **Station Zero - Stop 2: All Aboard, Den-O revived!**

Kai: Who drew on my face?!


	2. Stop 2 - All Aboard, Den-O revived!

Previously on "Track of Memories":

A transfer student named "Kai Strider" who arrived from America nearly ended up getting squashed from falling debris and saw the time traveling train Zeroliner. "Meeting" the train's apparent operator Sei, Kai was knocked out by her Imagin partner Deneb and was briefed on becoming the next Kamen Rider Den-O.

Ignoring all of the female's requests to become the next rider, Kai went to his hotel room to rest from the day. Deneb came by the following morning and pulled the human to where an injured Sei was resting. Seeing a large foreboding shadow about to engulf the area, Sei shoved her partner and Kai into a passing Zeroliner before being engulfed by the shadow.

Moving into the time stream, Zeroliner sensed Kai did not have the Pass that Sei gave him and threw the hapless human into the time desert. Wandering around, Kai found a cave to recover from the storm but ended up passing out.

The cave turned out to be a tunnel for the legendary train Den-Liner as the bullet train zoomed out into the storm.

**Stop 2: All Aboard, Den-O revived!**

Running down the streets of his hometown, Kai Strider was trying to find his family. Unable to locate his parents or friends, he looked to the sky and saw the same shadow that engulfed Tokyo hovering over him. Watching Sei run into the shadow with her strange belt, the object absorbed the female and turned towards the lone human. Diving at him, the shapeless shadow crawled up Kai's legs and began to pull him into the ground. _Someone… help!_ Reaching up with his waist pulled into the ground, something hard hit his hand.

"OW! Watch where you're reaching!" Snapping awake, Kai found himself sitting in a dining car with a blanket over him. Groaning, the memories of wandering around a desert came back as the sound of a train's horn brought the human back to his current situation. Looking up, Kai found a red demon-like creature looking back at him while holding its nose. "Huh, did you change your color Deneb?"

"What does candy-man have to do with me getting punched?" Growing angry, the rather loud creature pointed at Kai's confused face. "Hey, is this guy really supposed to be the new rider?" Pushing the blanket aside, Kai looked around to see another Imagin loitering around the dining car. Hearing a chuckle, the blue Imagin leaned down at the sitting visitor and shrugged. "I guess so… but I thought that woman had better taste in guys." Feeling something wrong with his face, Kai felt something warm and found a black substance on his hands. Smelling the unknown substance, it was from a marker. "Oh right, you made our home stop suddenly and ruined the brat's picture." The red Imagin comments.

Wandering two cars back, Kai found the restroom of the moving train and scrubbed the marker off his face. Checking the mirror, his face was red from the washcloth trying to get the heavy ink off his face. _So Deneb isn't here?_ Remembering the Zeroliner tossing him out, Kai sighed and realized he might never get back to his world. Going back to the dining car, Kai found the red and blue Imagin on the floor groaning. "Uh, what's going on around here…?"

"We haven't had a decent meal in weeks…" The blue one complains. "Yea, this turtle pervert can't even make toast." The red Imagin says before rolling facedown to continue groaning from hunger. Sighing, Kai moved behind the counter to find a completely stocked cooking area with an oven and refrigerator. Turning on the cooking surface, the still confused human began to cook for the pathetic looking Imagin.

The smell of cooking eggs soon began to fill the car and helped to revive the downed Imagin from the floor. Climbing into chairs the previously collapsed creatures started to down the simple meal with ease. "Ok, I gave you something to eat because I felt sorry… now can someone explain where am I and who you are?" Between mouthfuls, a shared story was given to Kai about the previous Den-O leaving for some unexplained reason which stranded the four Imagin on board the traveling Den-Liner. Counting only two, Kai continued to question the eating Momotaros. "Wait, where are the other two?"

"The bear is always sleeping and the kid likes to wander around to do his own thing." The red Imagin says after slamming his fork on the table. "Ah… that was good. The name's Momotaros, who the hell are you?" Sniffing the coffee Kai had brewed, the blue Imagin had already introduced himself to be Urataros. "I'm Kai and… AH!" Ducking to the floor, Kai had avoided a large sword from cleaving his head off. Looking up, he found Momotaros was in control of the blade that now left a deep cut in the table. "What the hell is your problem?"

"I should be asking you that…" Resting the massive blade on his shoulder, the Imagin chuckled at the scared human. "Heh, now you know how we feel when you tried to erase time to suit your own needs."

"Sempai… he's not the same Kai we defeated." Looking back at Urataros, Momotaros didn't see Kai passing out on the floor from shock. "Say what? Aww man, I missed this guy passing out?" Someone had decided to hit the passed out human with ice cold water. Feeling the chilled attack, Kai woke up suddenly to find all four Imagin looking down at him unimpressed. "So, if you aren't going to be the new Den-O… you mind leaving?" Momotaros asked. "We have no time to waste on a weak host."

"Huh?" The Den-Liner roared through the remains of the destroyed Tokyo as the Imagin left behind a dazed and confused human in the middle of a barren city square. Watching the bullet train vanish back into the time stream, Kai looked around at the bleak remains of a once powerful city. _Its all gone…_ The sky was dark from layers of swirling storm clouds as lighting came down and blew apart a half-standing building. Streaming out from the collapsing structure, several human survivors were running away to escape the falling debris. _Maybe they can tell me what's going on!_ Kai thought before another explosion sent the hapless human backwards. Looking up, many of the humans had been crushed by large chunks of debris. A lone scream came out from behind a wall as Kai ran around. "No! Get away from my parents!"

A black Imagin had cornered a child who was trying to protect his mother and father. The father was trying to pry his wife's pinned left leg out from under a slab of concrete as the growling Imagin closed in. Finding a steel pole on the ground, Kai picked it up and smashed it over the head of the rhino-looking Imagin. Growling at Kai, the Imagin shattered the makeshift weapon as if it were glass and backhanded the wanna-be hero. Bouncing off the cracked ground, Kai watched as the Imagin continued to close in on the family. "Leave them alone damn it!" The shoved off human was losing consciousness from his head hitting the ground.

Raising a claw to strike down the family, the deathblow was stopped by a hand. Standing up to the growling Imagin, Kai's hair was spiked back with a single red streak over his right eye. Punching the Imagin in the face, the possessed human chuckled before wiping some blood from his lower lip. "You got your free strike for today… now it's my turn!" Feeling something in his pocket, Momotaros pulled a Rider Pass out of Kai's back pocket. "Heh, so you did have one after all… guess you aren't so weak after all." Whipping a strange belt around Kai's waist, Momotaros pressed down a red button. "HENSHIN!"

Swiping the pass over the buckle of the belt, the tone stopped as a grey armor materialized over the human. **SWORD FORM** Spinning around the armored human, an external red armor appeared and locked over the shoulders and formed a chest plate. Sliding down the head, a red plate broke off and formed a pair of "eyes" on the helmet. Stretching out his arms and neck, Momotaros pointed at himself and chuckled. "Ore… SANJOU!" Striking his trademark pose, the confidant Imagin looked at the growling enemy. "As I said before… no screwing around as its time for my climax."

Taking off two pieces off his hips, he tossed them into the air before kicking the charging Imagin back. Snapping the last two pieces to the falling combo, a red blade popped out of the top as the combined parts formed a sword. Ducking under a punch, Momotaros slashed wildly at the enemy Imagin. Connecting several times, he forced the growling Imagin to back off and try to recover. Not giving his opponent any time to rest, the red rider pulled out the pass and held it over the buckle. **FULL CHARGE **The buckle began to flash rapidly while building energy into the sword, tossing aside the pass the blade of the sword snapped off and jumped into the air.

Attaching a red energy chain to the spinning blade, Momotaros swung the handle across his chest and cut a large gash in the enemy Imagin. Pulling the still airborne blade behind him, the blade cut through the concrete that had pinned down the woman's leg before slashing across the rhino-like Imagin. Raising the handle, the blade stopped over the Imagin for a moment. "Hissatsu Attack… Part 1!" Dropping the handle, the spinning blade cleaved into the Imagin and exploded. After watching the enemy vanish into the explosion, the victorious rider pumped his hands into the air. "Hell yea! Now THIS is what I've missed!"

Growling heavily, the defeated Imagin started to go out-of-control. Growing rapidly, it seemed that another fight was at hand. **Attack Ride: Blast **A shower of charged bullets came out from behind the enlarging Imagin and finished it off before completing the evolution. "Huh? Who the hell are you to steal my spotlight?" Stepping out from the explosion, a magenta colored rider aimed its gun at the confused Den-O. "Just a passing through Kamen Rider…" Focusing on Momotaros' head, the harsh speaking rider had a bead on the sword swinging Den-O.

Preview:

Momotaros: Typical, I'm trying to be the hero and someone steals my time!

Decade: You didn't finish the job fast enough… are you really Den-O?

Momotaros: That's it! I'm kicking your ass!

Kai: Not as long as I say so.

Arriving soon… **Station Zero – Stop 3: Rider From Another World, Decade**


End file.
